Trump told officials Netanyahu should pay Palestine aid

Gaza: US President Donald Trump has reportedly told his close
assistants that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should pay millions
of dollars in annual aid to the Palestinian Authority if he thinks Washington’s
decision to cut it altogether was wrong.

New website Axios reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu had
earlier this year asked the White House to resume transferring money to the
Palestinian authority, citing concerns by Israeli experts that not doing so
would affect the future of any attempts at “peace.”

Barak Ravid, a Channel 13 reporter in Israel, claimed that Tel
Aviv made the request after it found out that the US State Department had
discovered $12 million in funds earmarked for the Palestinians but not
transferred to the PA.

Israel, which maintains security ties with the Palestinian
Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, asked Trump to hand over the money, a
request he swiftly turned down.

“If it is that important to Netanyahu he should pay the
Palestinians $12 million,” Trump said according to the report, citing the PA’s
decision to cut ties with his administration in the wake of Washington’s
2017 recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the Israeli regime.

The Trump administration ended aid to the PA in January, just
before the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA), passed by Congress and then
signed into law by President Donald Trump last year, came into force.

The legislation allows Americans to sue those receiving foreign
aid from the US government in American courts over alleged complicity in
“acts of war.”

The PA reportedly asked the funding stop to avoid possible costly lawsuits in the face of long-running accusations by Washington and Tel Aviv about providing funds to the families of convicted or slain individuals whom they regard as “terrorists.”